Friedrich Merz, poised to become Germany’s next prime minister after the Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union won the country’s national election on Sunday, reportedly invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit.
He has done so in spite of warrants issued in November by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for Netanyahu to be arrested should he enter any of its 125 member states.
“I think it is a completely absurd idea that an Israeli prime minister cannot visit the Federal Republic of Germany,” Merz said at a press conference, according to Reuters. He also reportedly told Netanyahu by phone “that we would find ways and means for him to visit Germany and leave again without being arrested.”
The arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, were based on supposed “war crimes” relating to Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip following the terrorist group’s slaughter of 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The ICC also issued arrest warrants for Hamas leaders.
The Israeli prime minister’s office confirmed the “warm” phone call on Monday, according to an official Israeli readout, saying Netanyahu called Merz to congratulate him on his victory. The office said the invitation was “in overt defiance of the scandalous International Criminal Court decision to label the prime minister a war criminal.”